Howdy all,
With almost a dozen ladies in the brooder I knew I needed to get something going on building a proper coop/run for them. While framing and wood construction are not something I have a lot of experience with, I am fortunate to have a large workshop full of tools and some handy friends who have made this go pretty smoothly so far.
The cool will be based loosely on several of the other coops I have seen on here. It will be about 6.5' deep and 12' wide with the coop section being 6.5'x5'.
It will have 4 nest boxes blown out the western (left) wall. There is a 32x22" slider window on the front. There will be close-able screened vents on the front and back near the top. I am planning on putting in two 3x3 cleanout doors, one on the back and one inside the run on the east (right) coop wall next to the pop door.
The roof will be metal and sloped back.
I know everyone says I am supposed to use hardware cloth and not chicken wire but because of the enormous cost difference I am planning to use chicken wire for the run (I will use hardware cloth for covering the vents/windows on the coop itself). My next door neighbor keeps chickens who are outside all day in a run made of chicken wire and he has done this for years and never lost a bird or even had anything make it through the wire. I am willing to accept the risk which I believe to be minimal in my particular case.
I need to finish framing the back wall and get the door and window installed in the front wall but here are a couple pictures of the walls in progress. I am having a few friends come over on Saturday and I hope to get the walls moved into place, secured together and get roof put on. Maybe we'll get the coop floored and get the walls skinned as well. Then Mrs. HandsomeRyan has offered to paint it. I was thinking red with white trim but she is more interested in whit with hunter green trim. Happy wife, happy life.
On with the pictures...
This is the front wall. The framing above the window will be a vent with a flap so it can be opened/closed and hopefully keep rain out. The other side of the door has one additional stud in the middle of that open space now as well.
This is the beautiful Mrs. HandsomeRyan holding up the left side wall. The coop nest boxes will pop out from the opening in the center of that wall. The coop will reside up the hill on the flat spot of land just above my wife's head in this picture.
And finally, the coop's future occupants..
With almost a dozen ladies in the brooder I knew I needed to get something going on building a proper coop/run for them. While framing and wood construction are not something I have a lot of experience with, I am fortunate to have a large workshop full of tools and some handy friends who have made this go pretty smoothly so far.
The cool will be based loosely on several of the other coops I have seen on here. It will be about 6.5' deep and 12' wide with the coop section being 6.5'x5'.
It will have 4 nest boxes blown out the western (left) wall. There is a 32x22" slider window on the front. There will be close-able screened vents on the front and back near the top. I am planning on putting in two 3x3 cleanout doors, one on the back and one inside the run on the east (right) coop wall next to the pop door.
The roof will be metal and sloped back.
I know everyone says I am supposed to use hardware cloth and not chicken wire but because of the enormous cost difference I am planning to use chicken wire for the run (I will use hardware cloth for covering the vents/windows on the coop itself). My next door neighbor keeps chickens who are outside all day in a run made of chicken wire and he has done this for years and never lost a bird or even had anything make it through the wire. I am willing to accept the risk which I believe to be minimal in my particular case.
I need to finish framing the back wall and get the door and window installed in the front wall but here are a couple pictures of the walls in progress. I am having a few friends come over on Saturday and I hope to get the walls moved into place, secured together and get roof put on. Maybe we'll get the coop floored and get the walls skinned as well. Then Mrs. HandsomeRyan has offered to paint it. I was thinking red with white trim but she is more interested in whit with hunter green trim. Happy wife, happy life.
On with the pictures...
This is the front wall. The framing above the window will be a vent with a flap so it can be opened/closed and hopefully keep rain out. The other side of the door has one additional stud in the middle of that open space now as well.
This is the beautiful Mrs. HandsomeRyan holding up the left side wall. The coop nest boxes will pop out from the opening in the center of that wall. The coop will reside up the hill on the flat spot of land just above my wife's head in this picture.
And finally, the coop's future occupants..
